A4 Spotlight: The PSNC Stores

Gates of The Breakers during the Holiday Season

 

During this Holiday Season and for centuries before, people of every faith have given their loved ones something special at this time of year. However, the way that people shop and buy these gifts has changed radically in the last twenty years.

Ross Cann and A4 Architecture have an extensive history in designing stores and have had a front row seat to observe the changes in the overall retail marketplace. Starting with the design of Ralph Lauren stores upon graduation from Columbia, Ross was introduced to a type of retail design that would eventually come to dominate the high-end retail sector in the United States, which has come to be known as “Retailtainment.” This is the goal of making shopping not just utilitarian, but also an entertaining, supportive, and brand specific experience. This retail strategy is produces an engaging space that the customer can experience for as long as they wish to immerse themselves in the brand.

 

 

A4 Architecture has applied this skill and approach to many of its dozens of retail clients over the years, but for this article the focus is on one client in particular: the Preservation Society of Newport County (PSNC), which owns and operates a number of the Gilded Era mansions. These Mansion Stores, which are located in most of the PSNC properties, are usually the final of the building that visitors pass through on their way out of the experiences. A4 Architecture felt a particular responsibility not just support the institution through sales of goods, but also to complement the journey of the visitors by making passing through the store as engaging, entertaining, and informative as possible.

 

 

In our work in the Breakers, Elms, and Marble House shops, we always did our best to repurpose the spaces while maintaining as much of the historic architecture as possible. In each of these mansions, the store was to be located in the basement of the houses in what had once been the kitchens and other service areas. Even in the design of new retail fixtures, the goal was to make the pieces look like they had been repurposed pieces of old furniture that might have been found in the original building. This was done both to complement the authentic cabinetry that was being maintained but also to provide a richer and more enjoyable experience than just walking by piles of goods stacked on anonymous melamine shelving.

Ever since the broadcast of “Upstairs Downstairs” in the 1970’s, and then accelerated with the popularity of the TV series “Downton Abbey”, the nature of the relationship between those who owned the great houses and those who worked in them as cooks, butlers, maids and other staff have been fascinating. In most cases, we are far more likely to be descendants of the staff than the owners of these grand houses, so the lives of the servants and staff have become of greater interest to the public over time.

 

 

These stores have been enormously successful, both in generating income for the non-profit house museums but also in making the visitors feel entertained and catered to, even as their visit to the houses was winding to a close. We were also instrumental in pushing for the allocation of video space in each store to help sell the product that had the best margin for the museums: annual memberships to the organization itself. In the fifteen years we have been designing the stores for the PSNC, its membership has increased from 10,000 to more than 25,000 and so clearly the designs of the shops has not hurt this important effort.

The Preservation Society of Newport County, which owns and operates 11 different properties for visitation, opens four of those properties during December: The Breakers (Richard Morris Hunt, 1878), Marble House (Richard Morris Hunt, 1886), the Elms (Horace Trumbauer, 1901), and Rosecliff (McKim, Mead, and White, 1901). These are among the most noteworthy Gilded Age buildings by some of the most celebrated architects of that era. They are an important treasury of that period and the houses never look better than when they are lavishly decorated for the Holidays. The stores too are beautiful and appointed to help make your holiday shopping all the more pleasant and feel like you are part of the experience while visiting the house.

 

 

A4 Architecture also designed the free standing “Flagship” shop for the Preservation Society located on Bannisters Wharf in downtown Newport. This store has the additional challenge of helping not only sell goods, but to entice visitors to Newport to visit one or more of the mansions. Through video books and other Gilded Age themed merchandise, the store tries to craft a spell that will get a visitor to want to see and learn more about the mansions. In a world where store designs are often updated every five years or so, this store has remained essentially unchanged since we created the design more than fifteen years ago.

 

 

In a time when most goods can be researched, price compared, and delivery arranged with a few clicks of a computer keyboard and mouse, it is important that “Bricks and Mortar” offers more expertise, more enjoyment and more beauty of the experience to help justify the time and effort of the shopper to come and make the visit in person. Incorporating the shops into the experience that can only occur in these magnificent mansions helps guarantee the foot traffic that most retail shops are so desperate for in the current retail environment.

Creating these spaces where goods are displayed within a setting that also communicates and supports the brand of the institution or store is like  in set design where both the shoppers and the staff are players on an unscripted stage. A4 Architecture is pleased and proud to bring thirty years of expertise to this challenging exciting and engaging task.

 

Ross Cann, RA, AIA, LEED AP, is an author, historian, teacher and practicing architect living and working in Newport, RI. He holds degrees in Architecture and Architectural History from Yale, Cambridge, and Columbia Universities.